Hello Paul,

Congratulations on your 2023 Freezer Challenge award! My name is Rachel, I'm a writer for Lab Manager, and I am working with My Green Lab on an article featuring this year's winners. (You can view last year's article here.)

You previously indicated you would like to participate in an interview for the article. If that is still the case, I invite you to reply to this email with answers to the questions listed below by Monday, October 23rd. If you think you will need more time for review or would prefer to respond to the questions in a call, please let me know. 

For this year's article, we are focusing content around the themes of leadership, empowerment, cultural change, and community engagement. In particular, we're exploring how organizational strategies for the first two can drive and be driven by shifts in the latter two as they pertain to sustainability goals and from the perspective of the Freezer Challenge. The questions below are a starting point, please feel free to skip over questions you would prefer not to answer or add additional comments you believe are relevant. 

1. In an environment where resources are usually limited, how did you motivate and lead your labs/teams to prioritize and achieve sustainability goals in the lab?
2. How have the successes from the freezer challenge spilled over into other areas of your university, creating a broader sense of community around sustainability?
3. Do you think your participation in and winning of the Freezer Challenge has prompted leadership at your university to set more ambitious resource-reduction targets or strengthened investment in laboratory sustainability efforts?
4. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us about how your university approached the Freezer Challenge this year or its overall impact?

Once the article is drafted, you will have an opportunity to review the relevant content for accuracy. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you very much,

Rachel

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Hello Madhu,

The interview questions in the thread below ask for leadership perspectives, and I am wondering if you would be willing to say a few words for this article to be published in Lab Manager Journal?

Specifically:

#2- Our campus has a widespread sense of community around sustainability and the freezer challenge uniquely demonstrates how efficient sample-management reduces green-house gas emissions, optimizes cold storage space      utilization, and increases equipment longevity while providing significant energy savings across campus. These successful impacts place potential opportunities under the microscope for researchers to take a closer look at other environmentally friendly changes are available in their labs.

#3- The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s ability to continually place among the top performing academic institutions reflects support from a large number of researchers and commitment to sustainable sample management. 

You could mention the green research committee and the charge you, Dr. Martinis and Ehab have put in place and what sustainable labs may look like in the near future?

#4 – Do you have a perspective on the overall impact of the success we have had with the freezer Challenge?

OR

Please feel free to respond to the questions below and forward them to me at your convenience before Oct 23rd.

Thank you 

Paul Foote

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Hello Madhu,

I am just sending this as a reminder, if you would like to respond?

Best

Paul Foote

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Hi Paul

Yes I would be happy to send you a quote by the 23rd.

Best

Madhu

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Terrific, thank you!

Best

Paul Foote

Dear Paul, 

We here at My Green Lab thank you very much for your patience while the submissions for the 2023 Freezer Challenge were reviewed over the past number of weeks. You’re receiving this email because you were a site coordinator for the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign  this year. Thank you for encouraging labs to participate in the Freezer Challenge this year! You and your lab(s) are a part of over 1,900 labs from 170 different institutions, across 27 countries which participated this year, a new record! The combined efforts of the scientists and labs participating in the 2023 Freezer Challenge saved an estimated 20.6 million kWh over the past year, which is the equivalent of avoiding an estimated 14,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

66 scoresheets were submitted from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, representing a total of 94 labs, the combined actions of which saved an estimated 1293.5 kWh/day! Great job, and well done! Please see the attached Excel document for details of all the actions taken by labs at your organization this year, with each row being a different scoresheet submitted back to us. Total raw points for actions and kwh/day saved are on the far right. *Please note that all lab points of contact received a separate email from programs@mygreenlab.org in the past 24 hours informing them of their lab’s estimated energy savings too. 

The winners of the 2023 Freezer Challenge will be announced by mid-August via My Green Lab and I2SL newsletters and our social media channels, so stay tuned for that announcement! 

Thank you for engaging labs at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign to implement cold storage best practices through the Freezer Challenge! We hope you’ll encourage your organization to participate in the 2024 Freezer Challenge next year. 

Sincerely,  

My Green Lab & the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL)

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We have officially surpassed the highest number of labs participating and reached our highest avoided energy reduction at over $54k avoided annually at the current kWh rate.

We also have a lab receiving an award for the best lab in their category. See next email forward.

Best

Paul

Below is the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Winners for Sustainable Achievements. UIUC was awarded excellence for the following. 

Excellence Winners in the Renovation/Retrofit Category

• Excellence in Energy Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Materials Research Laboratory Renovation
• Excellence in Energy and Water Efficiency: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab Renovation

From: Foote, Gerard Paul <gfoote2 at illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2022 4:01 PM

Subject: Urgent poll for photo shoot & 2022 Freezer Challenge results

Hello Everyone,

Congratulations, on another world-class performance and international recognition in the 2022 International Freezer Challenge!

You have reduced over 290,000 kWh’s annually, an energy cost savings of over $25,500, which is our second highest results since participating in this competition and has earned the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Freezer Challenge!

Yes, I know this is not the same as first place or even the innovative Winning Streak Award that we helped create, but it is a testament to our world-class example and leadership in sustainable laboratory practices in research sample cold-storage management.

Most importantly, your continued efforts, participation and documenting these lab practices reflects efficient adoption and implementation of sustainable laboratory practices that have long lasting impacts once incorporated into the labs day-to-day operations.

On a side note: My competitive side suspects that we once again may have outperformed or at least participated in the top tier of participating universities worldwide, more follow up to come.

Please add your availability in this When2Meet calendar: https://www.when2meet.com/?16378891-ETV5Z  by August 19th 2022 deadline?

FYI- The overall impacts are still being accumulated and will be shared in a campus wide media release and mass email.  

The rules now state we are only able to be recognized for 1st place or the Winning Streak Award if previous winners surpass their previous year’s energy savings calculations and while we achieved are second highest reductions to date, overall it was not higher than last year’s reductions of over 383,000 kWh’s.

Thank you 

Paul Foote

Think Globally. Act Locally

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Specialist
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
F&S Energy Services Retrocommissioning

Email: gfoote2 at illinois.edu

Office: 217-244-1048

The Spring 2022 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) was released with the following message from Madhu Khanna, the Interim Director of iSEE:

Greetings Colleagues,

Attached, please find the Spring 2022 edition of iQ, our quarterly update. You will see that in this six-page pdf recapping the recent semester, we had plenty of news and updates from our research, education, events, and campus sustainability fronts.

But the work did not end there! Since the semester ended, we have had two other exciting announcements:

• The U of I campus was rewarded with the only USDA NIFA “Farm of the Future” grant. Our I-FARM project will be an 80-acre testbed for merging technology, sensing, and agronomy into a farm setting with crops and livestock that will be productive and profitable. Read our June 1 news release >>>
• In addition, for the fifth consecutive time, our campus reached Gold-level status in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) run by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). New solar and geothermal energy projects, a reduction in water use, and wide-ranging sustainability research helped us reach this level yet again. Read the May 25 news release >>>

For more up-to-date news from iSEE, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.

Best wishes for a healthy and productive summer,

Madhu